The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-04-09

not quite safe. he would take MS chahcca-
There were many robberies. as we all |
know, but not one dollar was taken for
g.. 900 sent. Nowadays il registered /
letter is missing it can be traced pretty |
close to the party who took il. but IN
those days Government officer had TO |
work for days or weeks 10 nab the
gnilty party.
/ remember that l was once sent TO /
Illinois 10 investigate the numerous
complaints which had come in regarding
"a certain route. This route began At
Springfield and extended sixty-seyen
miles, taking in towns which will call
Liverpool, Abbeville. White Rock, Da-
visburg and Montgomery.
1t was all stage route, and as the
country was well settled up. the mails
were always heavy. Most Of the com
plants had come from citizens oil
Springfield and Montgomery. These
were the two largest places, and were
nj the extreme ends OF the route
Money sent from Springfield would not
reach Montgomery. and vice versa
That is, IL wosld not reach the hand
Of the persons for whom it was intended
| set TO work believing that / had
hard lob before me. for all the Post
masters were men who were above
suspicion. first rode over tho route
several times, or until perfectly satisfied
that the mail carriers had nothing To do
with the robberies. The nearest town
10 Springfield was Liverpool. mailed
a decoy letter from there TO Springfield
and il was safely delivered. That
seemed to prove that the robbery was
III Abbeyillc or White Rock. mailed
from Abbeyille one way and from
White Rock the other. and, after few
DAYS was convinced that the trouble
was i'm the latter Post Office.
White Rock was village Of 700 III
habitants, and the Post Office was kept
in the wing of a dry goods store. The
, wing had been built on for the Office
, and besides having door from the
: street theso was second from the
store and third from the family sit
ting room. This latter led into the
( Office itself, and was used only by the
+ Postmaster and his family The Post
( master was man nearly sixty years
: old. reasonably well of. and the first
/. look into his face satisfied me that ht
i could know nothing Of tho robberies
+ He had two clerks i'm the store with him
g but thcy had nothing 10 do with the
Y mails. After a little observation | dis
e covered that the Postmaster was rs
: sisted by his wife, woman of abou
y his own age. and by young woman wh'
a was related 60 them. buthad served rs I
T; hired girl Everything seemed to b.
!, honest and straightforward IN TN
7. ollice. as far as | could see from TIN
q corridor, but that wo.ld have been Tho
= case In any event ! mailed n deco.
Il letter from that Office TO Springfield
a and Il passed safely. Then | mailc
n one from there TO Montgomery, and
N was lost. In the course of three week
ID cot three decoy letters over tn
of route all right, while three more wcr
IN stolen. and all the evidence seemed I
point 10 White Rock rs the place,
BY carefully watching the Whit
Rock Office | found that on day
I'll when the mail reached there ut !
I'd o'clock A. NJ which was It's schedul
h. time. my dccoy letters wentno further
When the stage was late which was
frequent occurrence the lettcrs went o
" further | soon solved this myster,
ld II the mail came in on time the youn
~ woman helped 20 sort. wrap and On
~ tribute IL while the stage waited IL
was late she had TO be busy about Il
~ dinner and the Postmaster and b
up wife did the work. | was soon assure
20 that the girl was the guilty party, an
re when | began TO make inquiries aboI
=. her | found that she had n very di
sipated brother in Springfield, an
oi that She wrote him ut least once
nd week. | went TO Springfield TO loo
J. him up and found him drinking, pla
n ing billiards, and smoking cigar
n Seemingly he hadpleuty OF money. Ina
~ my dccoy letters | had of cours
marked the bills. and rs luck wou
have il had not Swallowed the your
man over half an hour when he offer,
~ one of these bills To a barkccper, and
II managed 10 secure il in change. The
~ rhad him locked up, and | returned
~ White Rock to deal with his sister.
o' first took the Postmaster asi'
and made myself known, and shows
r., him my proofs, He was great
II ag1tatcd but firm in his belief that G
~ Girl was innocent. and could cNpla
of matters. / held my interview wi
vs. her i'm the kitchen. She was furious
II indignant nj first. and even when ] c
snt u.;..al ,Lo Jacov leffers and show